Blogs

In homage to the coming recession, a New York Times reporter made dinner every night for a week using (mostly) supplies picked up at 99-cent stores, culminating in a final weekend dinner part for friends, comprised solely of 99-cent items. Over the course of the week, 22 99-cent stores across Manhattan were surveyed. Predictably, Little Debbie and Goya played major supporting roles. The dinner party menu went like this:

The Dread Cthulhu of Lovecraft Mythos fame comes in not-so-terrifying cake form too:

"The base was cherry-chip cake, the island and tower a mix of cherry chip and yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Also used small chocolate 'pearls' as rocks. Cthulhu himself is all fondant, with two chocolate pearls that I seeped in red dye for eyes."

(raingirllori on Flickr via Boing Boing)

Damn you, Google employees! Isn't there enough work to keep you busy? This is starting to get ridiculous. I mean you people have time to gain 15 pounds in the first year, become in-house food critics on the side, and eat unlimited chocolates. But that wasn't enough: now you make specialty ice cream flavors (mint vanilla, cayenne chocolate) for co-workers in your apparently endless spare-time! And on top of all that, you're badgering DoubleClickers for eating all your food? I'm starting to wonder if Google is really just an elaborate cover for a human veal farming operation ala Soylent Green. Or maybe I'm just masking my own pitiful jealousy. (via Valleywag)

-- B.B.

All-you-can-eat seating for Oakland A's games this season: Drop a cool $35 for a seat and you get UNLIMITED hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, soda, and ice cream. Yes, ice cream too. The free-for-all ends after the 7th inning, which is fine because by then you'll be ready for some Pepto and a nap. Call it ballpark concession therapy: you can finally make up for all the times as a child you begged your parents for $5.00 nachos and ended up with stupid dry-roasted peanuts instead. Obesity epidemic? What obesity epidemic? Purchase tickets. (via SF Metblogs)

-- B.B.

An inquiring mind in the Post Punk Kitchen wanted to do something really special for her boyfriend's birthday. He happens to be a big David Lynch fan as well as a vegan. Hence: this gruesome, completely vegan, Blue Velvet-inspired cake, complete with blood splatters and severed ear. Mmm, eary. And just for fun, check out some of the film's most memorable quotes. Two of my favorites:

Jeffrey Beaumont: "See that clock on the wall? In five minutes you are not going to believe what I've told you."

Frank Booth: "Baby wants to fuck! Baby wants to fuck Blue Velvet!"

Good stuff. (via Boing Boing)

-- B.B.

The Amateur Gourmet Adam Roberts has revealed what everyone's favorite asshole chef Anthony "Archenemies of the Food Network" Bourdain said behind the heavy-handed bleeping on his interview for the new online video series The FN Dish. Frankly, I was expecting something a little more illicit from Bourdain, given his track record. Alas, Food Network is a bunch of prudes. The offending lines after the jump.

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We've reported on the rise of gastro pups before (see also: "Smother the Gastro Pups"), but this time it's personal. According to the Chron some of the Bay Area's finest restaurants are beginning to cater to the "under-10 crowd," and -- no surprise here -- food bloggers make a cameo in the story as the cranky, childless assholes:

"It's these knee-high patrons that most seem to bother childless diners, who complain bitterly about them in the food blogosphere. Their main criticism is that today's parents don't watch their children closely enough or discipline them."

But perhaps we've come down a little too hard on the gastro pups. After all, kids that age often haven't even learned that they're supposed to treat waiters as their personal slaves and avoid eye contact when making impossible demands. As Wood Tavern owner Rich Wood points out:

"... it's the adults I worry about sometimes. When you bus the table the kids will look you in the eye and say, 'Thank you very much' ... I've seen adults be so gruff and rude, and the kids are the dream clients."

I just know this ain't going to be pretty: German website Pundo300 compared about 100 different packaged foods with their photos --everything from candy bars to frozen fish sticks. But don't worry, apparently nothing went to waste:

"All products were purchased, the packaging photographed and the contents prepared and photographed too. All products were then eaten up." and also: "The purpose of the project is not to discredit any brands or products but to critically compare the packaging advertising with the inside contents"

Thanks to Funtasticus for the translation. (via Boing Boing)

Around Town:
Sprouting in the newly revamped Mint Plaza comes Chez Papa Resto (414 Jessie at Mint), offspring of the successful Potrero Hill bistro Chez Papa. After delays pushed back the opening date several times, general manager Tonino Drovandi confirms that Monday, March 31, is opening day. “The menu’s still evolving,” he says. “The reason we’re not opening until the 31st is because we’re doing some extensive tastings this week, really dialing in on the new menu.” As for personal favorites, Drovandi dropped descriptions of two delicious-sounding dishes: “We do little grilled lamb chops with ratatouille and lavender salts. And one of our staple dishes at Chez Papa is the lamb daube; it’s a meat stew with lamb braised in red wine. Really nice.”

As SF Weekly’s Meredith Brody very wisely says, “There’s more than one way to fill a couple of slices of bread.” With that in mind, she scoured the city last week in search of the most perfect sandwiches, and reports back triumphant. Between the graciousness of the staff and the simple elegance of the sandwiches, North Beach’s Petite Deli (752 Columbus at Filbert) is a great stop: Try the Young’s chicken sandwich ($6). Ike’s Place (3506 16th St. at Sanchez) is another amazing spot to grab lunch, as much for its huge, messy sandwiches as for its extensive vegetarian and vegan options. For Brody’s full dose of sandwichology, be sure to check the new issue of the SF Weekly, on newsstands today.

Weekly Planner:
This Thursday, March 27, Wine Enthusiast magazine hosts the second annual Toast of the Town San Francisco at the War Memorial Opera House (401 Van Ness at McAllister) — an event that promises far more wine, food, and music than any human being could possibly consume in a single evening. More than 500 domestic and international wines and spirits will be on hand, with food pairings from 30 of the Bay Area’s finest restaurants, including local favorites Chez Panisse, Tartine Bakery, Fifth Floor, and Plumpjack Cafe. Local jazz quartet Loosewig will hold down the beat, and a silent auction offers the chance for delectable take-home goodies, with proceeds benefiting the San Francisco Food Bank. Tickets run $95 for the tasting, $185 for the VIP treatment.

Date Night:
Salty and sweet is a taste combination as old as time. This Friday, March 28, the Hip Tastes Salty and Sweet Tasting at Sugar Cafe (679 Sutter at Taylor) gives this inseparable pair a moment to shine with a showcase of concoctions from the likes of Elizabeth Falkner (Citizen Cake and Orson), single-origin chocolates from European chocolatier Hotel Chocolat, Rocky Road inspirations from Droga, and — taking up the slack on the salty side — selections from Estrellita’s Snacks and Botanas Felicitas. To wash it all down, there’ll be a variety of wines chosen for their fit with sweet and salty. 7:00-10:00 p.m., $30.

Night Cap:
While Bay Area wine lovers have a veritable nonstop pipeline of tastings and special events to keep their glasses full, partakers of the harder stuff may feel a bit left out. Well, not this week. Friday and Saturday, March 28 and 29, the Ninth Annual Whiskies of the World Expo drops anchor in San Francisco with more single malt whiskies, bourbons, and specialty spirits than you can shake a stogie at. The two-day boozefest kicks off Friday night at the Le Meridien Hotel (333 Battery at Clay), where you can brush up on your education with seminars and classes at the Whisky University ($61.50 per course). On Saturday, hop aboard the San Francisco Belle, docked at Pier 3 (Embarcadero and Washington), and put your learning to the ultimate test: the tasting extravaganza ($110 per person).

Coming Soon:
It's time again to make the rounds of new joints, starting with something sweet in SoMa. Self-serve purveyor Icebee (829 Mission at Fourth St.) is the latest addition to San Francisco’s burgeoning frozen-yogurt game. In the Castro, the space formerly occupied by Ararat Mediterranean has quickly sprouted the new Italian osteria Poesia (4072 18th St. at Castro), where southern Italian favorites prevail.

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The James Beard Award nominees have been announced, and the Bay Area has fared well this time around. Local favorites Slanted Door and Boulevard are both up for honors in the Outsanding Restaurant category. A16 Chef Nate Appleman is shortlisted in the Rising Star Chef of Year category. In the Best Chef Pacific category Michael Tusk (Quince), Craig Stoll (Delfina), Douglas Keane (Cyrus - Healdsburg), and David Kinch (Manresa - Los Gatos) all made the cut. Good luck to all the nominees. Check out the full list -- including more Bay Area contenders -- at the James Beard Foundation.

Regular readers know how much I love me some potty-mouth Bourdain. So I was very disappointed to see all of his salty wisdom bleeped out of this interview with Adam "The Amateur Gourmet" Roberts -- part of the new online video series The FN Dish. Here's the censoring in question:

Roberts: " ... I know that you watch Next Food Network Star. How do you reconcile that?"

Bourdain: "It's sort of like watching [insert long string of expletives here]."

Any lip readers out there want to take a crack at deciphering? (via Serious Eats)

I hate Peeps. I hate them more than any other sweet I can remember being plied with as a youngster, which may have something to do with my ambivalence toward Easter. There was always too much pastel-colored candy, too much shredded plastic grass, too much baked ham. But finally somebody has found a good use for Peeps: diorama! The Washington Post sent out the call for their second annual Peeps Diorama Contest (Peeps Show II) and ended up with over 800 entries. Check out a gallery of the 37 finalists. My personal favorite is "No Country for Old Peeps" by Megan Walline. (via Serious Eats)

Further clearing up that fuzzy line between serious wine connoisseur and plain old wino (or at least rich wino and poor wino) is the San Francisco Wine Center. It's like a really fancy self-storage unit with perks: the combination social club/wine cellar provides 6,500 square feet of climate-controlled lockers (wood or steel) for drinkers to stash their goods -- from 25 to 450 bottles -- complete with round-the-clock video surveillance, not to mention sommelier service and private rooms perfect for those impromptu late night binges tastings. (via Thrillist)

Food bloggers who review and track prepared foods, everything from TV dinners and chips to cereal and candy bars, are being actively courted by food companies, who are attempting to curry favor and gain some blog love by sending free samples. And the bloggers don't even have to write nice things. As iateapie says: "The only thing that's worse than a bad review is no review."

The AP reports on a handful of these bloggers, among them heateatreview.com (TV dinners, microwavable foods), www.iateapie.net (diet foods), and candyblog, all of whom have been on the receiving end of some, uh, subtle persuasion. Incidentally, from now on I will only be blogging about gummy candies. Forever. Hear that Haribo and Trolli? (via SF Gate)

Bad news for Starbucks, good news for Starbucks baristas: in the culmination of a 2004 lawsuit filed by a barista in La Jolla, a San Diego judge on Thursday ordered the java-slinging giant to shell out about $106 million in back tips to baristas (plus interest!) that originally went to shift supervisors. The suit went class-action in 2006 allowing as many as 100,000 current and former California baristas to hop onto the bandwagon (California is Starbucks biggest U.S. market with 2,460 stores.)

The individual payouts amount to roughly $1,000 per barista. No word on whether the back tips will be handed down in dimes and quarters. For their part, Starbucks vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."